Ranchi, March 25 (IANS) The Jharkhand government has decided to start a special school to train police officials in jungle warfare to fight Maoist rebels.

"The jungle warfare school will be the first of its kind in the state. The school has been mooted to provide training to cops to fight with Maoists in every situation, particularly in jungle areas where they are ambushed by the rebels," a police official, involved in anti-extremist operations, told IANS.

Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibte Razi had announced in the state assembly's ongoing budget session that the School of Jungle Warfare would be opened in Hazaribagh district during the 2007-2008 fiscal year.

"After completing initial training, cops will be inducted into the school. The products of the school will be deployed in Maoist-dominated districts and as security for VIPs," the official added.

Asked who will train the cops, he said: "We are planning to take help of the army and Border Security Force (BSF) to train them."

"Jharkhand is covered with forests and hills and the Maoists use this cover to ambush security forces," he noted.

Two of the biggest Maoist ambushes were witnessed in Saranda jungle of Jharkhand - one in December 2002 in which 18 security personnel were killed and the other in April 2004 when 28 security men died.

According to official figures of the last six years, the casualties among security personnel are higher than that of the Maoist rebels. As many as 262 security officials of the state police and paramilitary forces were killed in comparison to less than 200 Maoist rebels. In the same period, 323 civilians lost their lives in Maoist violence.

When Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in November 2000, Maoist rebels were active in eight districts. The rebels have now spread their network in 16 districts.

The security personnel in the state are unable to do night patrolling in fear of Maoist ambushes and landmine blasts. IndianMuslims.info